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National Library Service Plans Next-Gen Audiobooks
The New York Times (as carried here by CNET, registration-free) is reporting on what seems like an overdue update planned by the adminstrators of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which -- thanks to a copyright exemption -- can provide audiobooks without paying royalties. The Library Service will switch from 4-track tape players to audio devices based on flash memory. The article does not mention what sort of codec might be chosen, but does mention a couple of reasons (fragility, and diffculty for use by the blind) to not simply use CDs bearing some compressed audio format. The amount of listenable audio that can be squeezed into readily available pocket-sized storage these days is incredible, at least if you consider listenable things like the 32kbps recordings of old radio shows that the Sherlock Holmes Society of London makes available. (I wonder why small hard drives weren't chosen, though; they seem to bear up pretty well.)
Can't mention libraries with out mentioning this:
Librarian Action Figure
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
And why do the blind get all the good parking spaces?
Can they drive, let alone park?
Reminds me of a joke by Yakov Smirnov (inventor of In Soviet Russia): Only in America do drive-up ATMs have Braille on the numbers.